The European Community has frequently been blamed for impairing, through its highly protectionist agricultural policy, the development chances of Third World countries. Our article analyses whether, and to what extent, this reproach is justified.

In August the Soviet government agreed to the second one-year extension of the US-USSR grain agreement, which has regulated grain trade between the two countries since 1976. Although a net exporter of grain for the best part of this century, the USSR has become increasingly dependent on imports...